SMART Union
WASHINGTON – The National Transportation Board today released its preliminary report in the Dec. 30, 2013, derailment, collision, fire and explosion that occurred near Fargo, N.D. A BNSF train carrying crude oil struck a derailed BNSF train on a parallel track that was carrying grain.
The full report can be found here.
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We are pleased, as your general president and transportation division president, to present the first SMART Constitution and ritual to our membership. This is a milestone for both the former Sheet Metal Workers’ International Association and the United Transportation Union, that have merged to become the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers. While our merger has been complete for some time, this document solidifies this great union and its membership under a single constitution. It is impossible to speak to the success in completing this constitution without acknowledging both the hard work and the frustration of those who participated in the creation of the document and the membership who have waited patiently throughout this long and difficult process. The path has led both of us to take positions on interpretation of our separate constitutions and the merger agreement. In getting there, as would be expected of your leadership, we examined and debated every constitutional section thoroughly before agreement. At times, it required the help of an outside arbitrator to clarify a particular issue. While this slowed the process, it must be remembered the parties were tasked with blending 100 years of separate cultural and operational methods into a single constitution that would govern our organization. Throughout this process, both of us have recognized that, in the end, what matters is the importance of having a document that serves the best interests of all the membership of SMART. So, we are jointly resolved to move forward as an organization under one constitution and ritual, with a single focus. We, as your leadership, are dedicated to working collectively to provide a transparent and accountable organization that will strive to provide fair and reasoned representation to our membership and the efficiency of operation necessary to expand work opportunities for our members. To view the SMART Constitution, click here. To view a letter to all delegates attending the 2014 SMART Transportation Division Convention and First SMART International Convention, click here (This corrects and replaces the original posting from 1/14/2014.). To view questions and answers regarding the SMART Convention/Constitution, click here (03/18/14) Fraternally and in solidarity, 
Joseph J. Nigro, General President 
John Previsich, President, Transportation Division
Red Wing Shoes has recalled 42 styles of steel toe safety footwear.
A defect in the steel toe cap may result in the cap failing to meet voluntary industry safety standards and may not withstand impact.
The footwear was sold between December 2012 and November 2013. There are 42 styles of Red Wing branded products that are covered under this notice. However, only certain sizes within each style are affected. Only those styles, sizes and widths with a manufacture date code between December 2012 and November 2013 are affected.
The affected style number, size, width and manufacture date can be found on the product label on the inside of the boot. Please see the instructions in the press release and/or product posters below to find the product label.
View Red Wing’s press release here.
View a poster of affected styles here.
Two U.S. senators say a federal rail safety agency plans to propose a rule regarding the installation of video cameras aboard trains to monitor drivers and record accidents.
Sen. Charles Schumer, of New York, and Richard Blumenthal, of Connecticut, said Sunday that they had been informed by the Federal Railroad Administration that it would begin the process of establishing the rule sometime this year.
Read the complete story at NBC Connecticut.
The Federal Motor Carrier Administration (FMCSA) Jan. 10 announced that it is extending by one year, until Jan. 30, 2015, a requirement that interstate commercial driver’s license (CDL) holders retain paper copies of their medical examiner’s certificate and continue to make the document available for review upon request at the roadside by federal and state commercial motor vehicle inspectors.
In December 2008, FMCSA issued a Final Rule modernizing, streamlining, and simplifying recordkeeping obligations for drivers, carriers and state governments by requiring that a driver’s medical certification record be merged with state-issued CDLs.
States received support from FMCSA to implement the necessary IT system upgrades and merge the records into one, online database – the Commercial Driver’s License Information System (CDLIS).
FMCSA announced the one-year extension today to protect commercial drivers from being cited for violations because some states are not yet in full compliance with the new system. For a copy of the Federal Register announcement, see: www.FMCSA.DOT.gov.
WASHINGTON Two Senate committee chairmen asked the secretaries of transportation and energy on Thursday to take “prompt and decisive action” to resolve recent safety problems with crude oil transported by rail.
A series of fiery derailments, including a deadly wreck in Quebec last summer and a near-miss last week in North Dakota, have gained the attention of lawmakers, who until this point had said little about the issue.
Read the complete story at the Ledger-Enquirer.
Two former leading U.S. transportation officials who left the Obama administration in recent months were named on Wednesday to new private-sector posts.
Ray LaHood, the former U.S. Secretary of Transportation, will join a Washington, D.C-based advocacy group, where he will push for Congress to fund improvements in the nation’s roads, bridges, airports, rails and ports.
Read the complete story at Reuters.
The Massachusetts Department of Transportation’s board of directors today unanimously voted to accept the T’s recommendation that Keolis, a French rail company, take over operation of the state’s commuter rail system, winning the state’s largest operating contract in history.
MBTA General Manager Beverly Scott recommended Keolis as the winning bidder, after the board listened to roughly two hours of public comments.
Read the complete story at the Boston Globe.
On Dec. 30, BNSF Railway executive chairman Matthew Rose told the Dallas Business Journal that his sprawling 32,000-mile railroad would move 1 million barrels of crude oil every day by the end of 2014, nearly a seventh the total amount that was produced in the United States in 2012.
For railroad companies, including BNSF, the movement of oil-by-rail has become an economic windfall. In 2008, Class 1 railroads, which include the largest rail companies in America, transported just 9,500 carloads of crude oil. Five years later, in 2013, they were projected to move 400,000 carloads, due in large part to the Bakken oil boom in North Dakota. Some of those cars travel across Northwest Montana everyday, through communities like Columbia Falls, Whitefish and Libby.
Read the complete story at the Flathead Beacon.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp called on the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to release information on its inspections of the rail where a train recently derailed in North Dakota.
Noting that four derailments have occurred in the Casselton area in nine years, Heitkamp also called on the FRA to review the track quality near the community.
Read the complete story at PoliticalNews.me.